Quintessence Theatre continued the company’s "Reckless Romance Repertory" last week with its launch of "Antony & Cleopatra," completing an exploration of what it means "to "be in love."  Considering the matter from both comic and tragic viewpoints, Quintessence presents Shakespeare's ambiguous answer. 

In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Bottom remarks, "...reason and love keep little company together nowadays." From a tragic perspective, "Antony & Cleopatra" explores a kindred frame of reference. At the same time, "Antony" is a sweeping historical drama that questions notions about politics, duty and honor. 

Deanna S Wright has the regal, musing presence to play Cleopatra. Her delivery is measured and nuanced, her elocution crisp. Wright rejoices in wearing the resplendent costumes of Sydney Dufka. You know she would shine on the fashion runway. But her Cleopatra is more than a prima donna. 

Beneath Wright's showy front, you see (perhaps "sense" is a better word) a murky, disturbing ambiguity. Cleopatra's mood swings are unpredictable. Her actions do not march lockstep with shifting moods. Wright's Cleopatra stands outside of herself. You always wonder if you are seeing the authentic Cleopatra, or a toying Cleopatra who merely plays the role of the seductress/Egyptian queen. 

In contrast, Tim Dugan portrays Antony as an unreflective man of action, shifty in the presence of men, but helplessly in love with Cleopatra. "Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch of the ranged empire fall: here is my space." Antony has just enough wit to glimpse Cleopatra's superiority: "She is cunning past man's thought."

Cleopatra sees Antony, but Antony can only dimly see her. Dugan hits the right note in portraying Antony as proud. But Antony's thrall is cruelly on public display when he mindlessly follows Cleopatra's lead in surrendering a battlefield. Shocked and embarrassed, Antony returns to war. 

Octavius Caesar is the other strong member of the Second Triumvirate. In playing him, Lee Thomas Cortopassi speaks in the agitated tone of moral indignation, scornful of Antony's neglect of imperial duty. Yet, this "rational" Octavius is full of impulsive contradiction, tender towards sister Octavia (Sarah Stryker), ruthless to Pompey (Zachary Valdez) and Co-Triumvir Lepidus (Steven Anthony Wright).

Director Alex Burns creates the set and sound design. With its length (three hours) and multiplicity of scenes, largely in step with Plutarch's account that pits a stoic Rome against a licentious East, intensity can wane. The production uses dramatic lighting and abrupt, dissonant music chords that require resolution, to create dramatic foreboding. 

Shakespeare creates a plethora of characters to flesh out two storylines, the Antony/Cleopatra love tale and the struggle for political power. Christopher Patrick Mullen evokes the humor and agony of Antony's boon companion, Enobarbus. Zachery Valdez is a vivid presence as Pompey, who battles the Triumvirate for control of the empire.

Creating plots is not Shakespeare's strong suit, but his grasp of all other aspects of playwriting is astounding. Among his talents is an inventive expansion of genre. In his tragedies, he mixes in comedy; most of his comedies hint at tragedy narrowly averted. His history plays are full of intriguing, psychologically complex characters. Where does "Antony & Cleopatra" fit in?

With all of the above, the Quintessence production is careful to include touches of comedy. However, Shakespeare was centuries ahead of his time, and in our post-Ibsen world, we now see he also wrote "Problem Plays" (such as "Measure for Measure"), dramas that explore ideas. The Quintessence show has a problem play dimension, as it considers the values of love, politics and honor. 

As in "Midsummer," love and reason conflict. Antony has the joyousness Octavius lacks, yet Octavius is correct in seeing Antony's irrationality, if not his own. Shakespeare does not take sides. Love and reason need each other, but balancing the two is inherently unstable. 

The play looks at the value of honor. The idea tortures Enobarbus, who finds Antony's martial neglect dishonorable, and then is haunted by his sense of personal dishonor when he abandons Antony. Octavius tells Cleopatra that he honors her, yet secretly plans her humiliation. What does the word honor mean?

Equally, the reference to duty in "Antony & Cleopatra" is usually disguised power-seeking. Pompey is the reality. When Menas counsels him to assassinate the Triumvirate, Pompey replies, "Ah, this thou shouldst have done, And not have spoke on 't!" Only optics matter. Today, we would say Pompey craves "plausible denial." Machiavelli would be proud of us both. 

Love, honor, duty - what do these words mean? Centuries before Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Freud, Shakespeare explores the interiority of values. In rare instances, values are authentic, as seen in the love and honor of Cleopatra in the final act, which transcends moralistic reckonings. More commonly in "Antony & Cleopatra," love, honor and duty are just words used to window-dress falsity. They are crutches to help the characters tell lies.

"Antony & Cleopatra" will run through April 27. Tickets available at 215-987-4450, or online at quintessencetheatre.org. Quintessence is at 7137 Germantown Ave.